The Seahawks felt they needed help at defensive end so they took a chance and drafted Baraka Atkins.  Atkins certainly looks the part as he’s 6′4″, 271 pounds and he runs a 4.85 40.  But, he often seems unmotivated so Coach Holmgren & the other coaches will have to stay all over him to make sure he works hard.  In 49 games (45 starts) at Miami (Fla.), Atkins made 169 tackles, 26.5 tackles for a loss, had 18 sacks, batted down 8 passes, forced 7 fumbles and recovered 3 fumbles. 

The Seahawks often got pushed around by other teams running the football, so they decided to draft Brandon Mebrane to try to help them in that area.  Mebrane has nice size at 6′1″, 304 pounds but he’s pretty slow.  Still, Mebrane often demands a double team because of his strength and effort, and that should help the Seahawks linebackers stay clean to make plays which should improve the run defense.  In 41 games (31 starts) at California, Mebrane made 109 tackles, 25.5 tackles for a loss, had 14.5 sacks, batted down 2 passes, forced 1 fumble and recovered 1 fumble.  Don’t expect a lot of big plays out of Mebrane, but watch for the inside linebackers to make them.  Mebrane was a solid pick by the Seahawks.

The Seahawks needed help in their secondary so when their first pick came up in the NFL Draft they decided to select cornerback Josh Wilson.  Wilson is on the small side at 5′9″, 188, but he has blazing 4.29 speed in the 40 yard dash.  He has great leaping ability and he’s decent in run support.  Wilson played in 46 games (27 starts) for Maryland and he made 157 tackles, broke up 22 passes, had 2 interceptions (27 return yards), forced 2 fumbles and recovered 2 fumbles.  Wilson is also a good return man and the Seahawks will likely take advantage of that.  All in all, Wilson was a solid pick in the 2nd round.

Babineaux played in 15 games last season for the Seahawks and he made 55 tackles, had 1 interception and defensed 3 passes.  Babineaux made the big play against the Dallas Cowboys on Tony Romo’s botched snap that sent the Seahawks into the 2nd round of the playoffs.  He did an outstanding job for the Seahawks when injuries struck their secondary last season.  He will likely win a starting job somewhere in the defensive backfield for the Seahawks in 2007.

The Seahawks have re-signed Josh Brown.  Brown did a great job for the Seahawks last season as he made 25 of 31 field goals (80.6%) and he converted all 36 of his extra points.  Brown gives the Seahawks a really good weapon on offense as he’s quite dependable.